Emma #mixedmonday

This #mixedmonday is the super talented artist, Emma Allen @emmaallen.art.

Hi I'm Emma, I'm a British Sri Lankan artist. I work on a wide range of projects from painting performers at events, creating bespoke pieces for fashion brands, animation for art installations or teaching art workshops. My weeks are very varied but almost always pretty messy. When not working I love to sew, garden, dance, climb, run, and most of all be mama to Isuri.

I was born in London in 1981 (in a car) but then lived in Gothernberg and Copenhagen until I was 8 when my family came back to London.
Having grown up in Scandinavia and the UK, although I was very close to my Sri Lankan relatives who lived in the UK, growing up I didn't feel that deeply connected to my Asian heritage. There was an ongoing civil war and I had only been to Sri Lanka twice and felt very much like a tourist. When people would ask me that classic… ‘no but, where are you really from’ question, when I explained, I always felt a bit uncomfortable that I didn't really know Sri Lanka like I felt I should.

In 2005 The Asian Tsunami hit Sri Lanka and I had a strong calling to go over and help, somehow, I had no idea how. So I moved to Sri Lanka thinking I’d be there for 3 months, before I knew it I set up an arts charity project working in Refugee camps and children home’s and lived there for the best part of 5 years.
It was from 2005 onwards living in Sri Lanka that I began to really connect with my mixed identity. During those earlier days, I wanted to learn as much as I could about the country from the bus routes and street snacks to the language and traditions. This is when I finally started to connect deeply with my Sri Lankan side, and strangely after a while also helped me understand and identify my English side too. Ever since then, I’ve lived between UK and Sri Lanka.
I’m still exploring and learning about both places and identities and how they collaborate and influence each other and also sometimes clash with each other in the same space. Also I have a bad habit of switching sides to whichever is most convenient at the time, particularly handy in Cricket!

n 2019 I moved to Bristol to be with my (Cornish) partner Luke. We have a little girl called Isuri who is two and a half.

How would you describe your ethnicity? 

I’m Sri Lankan British. My mum is Sri Lankan, she moved to the UK when she was 12 and my dad is English

Has your mixed-ness influenced your career in any way?

Yes, early in my career I worked in the fashion Industry in New York and London mostly in magazines and with Fashion brands.
During my time living in Sri Lanka, I also worked in a community centre set up to train sewing skills to women who they had lost their livelihood and/or their partner to the tsunami. Long story short, this lead me down a path opening my eyes to ethical fashion and where we were falling short in mainstream fashion. 
I don't know, but have wondered if seeing families that look like my own, in desperation, reduces the disconnect or ‘otherness’ that some people can feel when faced with certan social issues or disaster situations.

When I returned to the UK I worked in ethical fashion, teaching about the social and environmental issues in the fashion industry and also sewing skills to repair or re-make clothes. I also moved into teaching painting and sewing with offenders in probation centers. This direction was definitely influenced by my experiences in Sri Lanka.
Aside from the fashion stuff, I was always making my own artwork along the way. The time in Sri lanka allowed me to connect with my family and a deeper understanding of my heritage and Sri Lankan culture. This shows in my themes of artwork over and over again.

If you could describe your mixed identity in one word, what would it be?

In-progress.

This is really hard! So far I just thought I did things randomly or from some gut feeling and it's only by looking back at your own story you see the search for something in a more linear way, in this case, identity. 

I always think It all makes more sense when you tell the story backwards, but that might just be my dyslexic brain talking. So with that in mind I'm still excavating and putting words to the feelings of identity and Beyond the Mix is all part of that. For me it’s in progress.

What is the best thing about being mixed heritage?

Having intimate access to two worlds and cultures, and being able to blend into many others.